The features of PHP7 are fairly enough for advanced web application development and making use of the latest resources to boost your development. PHP 7 was released in December 2015. The main reason behind the PHP7 is PHP6 has never reached the stable version, So the PHP community has chosen PHP5.6 to directly PHP7. Necessity To Upgrade: Features: Group use declaration: use FooLibrary\Bar\Baz\ClassA; use FooLibrary\Bar\Baz\ClassB; use FooLibrary\Bar\Baz\ClassC; use FooLibrary\Bar\Baz\ClassD as Fizbo; // In PHP 7 : use FooLibrary\Bar\Baz\{ ClassA, ClassB, ClassC, ClassD as Fizbo}; 1234567 use FooLibrary\Bar\Baz\ClassA;use FooLibrary\Bar\Baz\ClassB;use FooLibrary\Bar\Baz\ClassC;use FooLibrary\Bar\Baz\ClassD as Fizbo; // In PHP 7 : use FooLibrary\Bar\Baz\{ ClassA, ClassB, ClassC, ClassD as Fizbo}; // Current use syntax: use Symfony\Component\Console\Helper\Table; use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\ArrayInput; use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\NullOutput; use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\Question; use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputInterface; use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\OutputInterface; use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\ChoiceQuestion as Choice; use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\ConfirmationQuestion; // Proposed group use in PHP7 syntax: use Symfony\Component\Console\{ Helper\Table, Input\ArrayInput, Input\InputInterface, Output\NullOutput, Output\OutputInterface, Question\Question, Question\ChoiceQuestion as Choice, Question\ConfirmationQuestion, }; 1234567891011121314151617181920212223 // Current use syntax: use Symfony\Component\Console\Helper\Table;use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\ArrayInput;use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\NullOutput;use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\Question;use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputInterface;use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\OutputInterface;use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\ChoiceQuestion as Choice;use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\ConfirmationQuestion; // Proposed group use in PHP7 syntax: use Symfony\Component\Console\{ Helper\Table, Input\ArrayInput, Input\InputInterface, Output\NullOutput, Output\OutputInterface, Question\Question, Question\ChoiceQuestion as Choice, Question\ConfirmationQuestion,}; Return type declaration: Return type declaration specifies the type of value that a function should return. //declare(strict_types = 1); function returnIntValue(int $value) : int { return $value; } print(returnIntValue(5)); 12345 //declare(strict_types = 1);function returnIntValue(int $value) : int { return $value; }print(returnIntValue(5)); Scalar type hints: Type hints have been available in PHP for while now. Unfortunately, they were restricted to classes, arrays, and callables. As of PHP 7, the scalar types (integers, floating-point numbers, Booleans, and strings) can also be used as type hints. //declare (strict types=1) function add(int $a int $b) { return $a + $b; } var_dump(add(1,2)); 12345 //declare (strict types=1)function add(int $a int $b) { return $a + $b;}var_dump(add(1,2)); Level support for dirname() function: In PHP 4 and higher: return dirname ( dirname (_file_)); In PHP 7: return dirname (_file_ , 2); echo dirname("c:/testweb/home.php") . "<br />"; echo dirname("c:/testweb/home.php", 2) . "<br />"; o/p: c:/testweb c:/ 1234567 echo dirname("c:/testweb/home.php") . "<br />";echo dirname("c:/testweb/home.php", 2) . "<br />"; o/p: c:/testwebc:/ The null coalesces, operator: We have used the Ternary operator in PHP 5. $id = isset ($_GET[‘id’]) ? $_GET[‘id’] : null 1 $id = isset ($_GET[‘id’]) ? $_GET[‘id’] : null Now, php7 provided a null coalescing operator (??) to accomplish it the easy way. $id = $_GET['id'] ?? null; 1 $id = $_GET['id'] ?? null; Coalescing can be chained: $id = $_GET['id'] ?? $_POST['id'] ?? null; 1 $id = $_GET['id'] ?? $_POST['id'] ?? null; Spaceship operator (<=>) Spaceship operator returns only -1, 0, or 1 by performed to compare two values. echo $a <=> $b; echo $a <=> $b; echo $a <=> $b; 123 echo $a <=> $b; echo $a <=> $b; echo $a <=> $b; $a > $b then it will return 1. $a < $b then it will return -1. $a = $b then it will return 0. Generator delegation: function gen() { yield 1; yield 2; yield from gen2(); } function gen2() { yield 3; yield 4; } foreach (gen() as $val) { echo $val . ‘ ’; } 1234567891011121314151617 function gen(){yield 1;yield 2;yield from gen2();} function gen2(){yield 3;yield 4;} foreach (gen() as $val){echo $val . ‘ ’;} O/P: 1 2 3 4 I’ve explored this while contributing to Symfony-based project UVdesk, there are a lot more things to learn and you could also contribute to an enterprise-level open source helpdesk. Thanks for reading me. Hope it will help someone to use the new features of PHP7. UVdesk Forum! Developer Visit! Contact Us! Live Demo! Tag(s) PHP7 New Features PHP7 vs PHP5 spaceship operator Type hint Category(s) PHP7 Symfony UVdesk